Recommend some good IQ questions

partygirluk · #1 06-29-2005, 02:34 PM

My Dad is interviewing some people, one of whom is going to be his replacement. He wants me to come up with roughly 4 IQ questions they can give these guys 10 minutes to work on. He doesn't want them to extremely hard, just to prove that he/she can think on the spot and is sharp.

1 question I suggested is

i) You know a woman has 2 kids. You ask her if she has at least one daughter. She says yes. What is the chance that she has a son?

He thought this was the right level of difficulty for what he is looking for.

Thanks in advance.

CallMeIshmael · #2 06-29-2005, 02:35 PM

Are you thinking like 4 completely different areas of thought?

Like, we have 1 Bayes/probability type question, so, no more of those?

partygirluk · #3 06-29-2005, 02:37 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Are you thinking like 4 completely different areas of thought?

Like, we have 1 Bayes/probability type question, so, no more of those?

[/ QUOTE ]

That would be best.

CallMeIshmael · #4 06-29-2005, 02:41 PM

How about a spatial reasoning test.

Something like this, but adjusted for how difficult he wants it

CallMeIshmael · #5 06-29-2005, 02:47 PM

Also, Im not sure how much you know about the SAT (its a college entrance exam for schools in the States).

They probably have some decent math/verbal reasoning type questions for you.

Do a search for "SAT test questions" or something similar

EDIT: You want the hardest ones. Because, the easier ones are a joke.

jakethebake · #6 06-29-2005, 02:48 PM

On average, how much are the sales for an average gas station in New Mexico per year?

wacki · #7 06-29-2005, 03:00 PM

[ QUOTE ]

1 question I suggested is

i) You know a woman has 2 kids. You ask her if she has at least one daughter. She says yes. What is the chance that she has a son?

He thought this was the right level of difficulty for what he is looking for.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would say not enough info. Depends on age of mom and kids. More boys are born but they tend to die at a much earlier age so girls eventually outnumber boys later on in life. Race is also a factor as in China the male/female birth rate is 120:100. Of course that is probably due to genercide as the actual biological rate is closer to 108:100.

Still the answer I think your dad is looking for is 50% due to the probability law of independece.

Is this the answer he was looking for? It seems really easy for trying to find a replacement.

Jman28 · #8 06-29-2005, 03:14 PM

I think he's looking for 66.6%.

Possible combinations:

b/b
g/b
b/g
g/g

All equal chance.

Then, you know it's not b/b, so...

b/g
g/b
g/g

All equal. P(b/g or g/b) = 2/3

Edit:

I don't think this is a great question, unless mathmatical reasoning/logic is related to the job (and same can be said for word problems if they are unrelated).

Dumb people who have been exposed to bayesian probability can get this right, while some smart people who haven't been will get it wrong. I don't think it shows much about natural intelligence, unless you know what the answerer has learned in their life.

wacki · #9 06-29-2005, 03:23 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I think he's looking for 66.6%.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your answer is wrong. The conditions were that one child is a girl. This does not alter (mathematically) the chance that the second child is a boy/girl. Your mistake is in your assumptions.

CallMeIshmael · #10 06-29-2005, 03:31 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I think he's looking for 66.6%.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your answer is wrong. The conditions were that one child is a girl. This does not alter (mathematically) the chance that the second child is a boy/girl. Your mistake is in your assumptions.

[/ QUOTE ]

Im nearly certain that he is correct.

Two links:

1
2